Archangel
by CallsignReaper01
Summary: "What's your name maggot?" He saluted, "Gabriel Scipias...from Trost District sir." There was a brief second of respite in Shadis's eye before he socked the cadet in the gut and moved on.
1. chapter 1

**A/N: Hello readers, this is an attempt to rekindle the writing bug I've been having so I hope you guys like. If you do, maybe I'll write some more.**

 **Chapter 1 -Trost District: 847 - Out With the Old**

A warm glow enveloped the city of Trost as the waning sun began its descent along the horizon. Even though the rooftop gave a superb view of the city it did nothing to increase the time available to watch the glowing orb disappear; the massive brickwork know to humanity as Wall Rose saw to that.

"Thought you might be up here" a familiar voice sounded off.

"Yeah...figure it'll be the last time I get to do this for awhile"

She smiled as she shook her head. "Soon enough, you'll be able to do that from the top of the wall."

 _Best one I'd ever seen._ "Yeah…"

 _xxxxx_

 _(Earlier That Day)_

"NEXT!!!" the recruiter yelled. His voice echoed throughout the courtyard. The large, imposing stone structure stood as the military's command post and armory for the Trost District.

The next person in line stepped forward. A boy of middling height and a decent build calmly stood in front of the military recruiter.

 _Here we go..._ The boy took a deep breath.

"Please state your full name." the recruiter spoke, voice evident of just going through the motions at that point. Dozens of people had already signed up for the opportunity to join the military, how many of those would actually see it through, he did not know.

"Gabriel Scipias" the youth stated.

"Age?"

"13"

"Height?"

"172 centimeters"

The recruiter sighed, boredom blatant on his face, and continued, "Hair color?"

Gabriel shifted, "Black"

"And finally" the recruiter sighed with relief. I don't blame him, I wonder how many others have enlisted today. "Home of record?"

"Trost District sir."

"mmmmm...surprise there." the Garrison soldier mumbled sarcastically. "Ok Scipias...you're to be assigned to the 104th Training Corps for the duration of your training. The convoy leaving for the camp will leave tomorrow at sunrise, don't be late."

 _I did it._ "Thank you sir."

"Don't thank me yet." were the last words he heard from the man as Gabriel walked away.

 _xxxxx_

Gabriel walked under the rustic archway that divided the command posts courtyard from the street that ran outside. As one of Trosts main roads, it was bustling with the riff raff of traffic, both carriages and foot traffic as well as the sounds of various street vendors selling their wares.

"Did you do it?" the familiar voice rung out from from behind him.

Without skipping a beat, Gabriel replied, " Of course I did, did you?"

"Yeah." the voice caught up to him, revealing his slim built friend Jean. "Just making sure you didn't chicken out shortstuff." he chuckled.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, admittedly Jean had always been taller than him, but only by a bit. Face to face, Gabe was eye level with Jean's nose but his friend always used it as an excuse to call him short.

The edge of Gabe's mouth gave a barely visible smirk, "You mean like the time you chickened out of asking Beth Jensen to the school dance."

Jean, caught off guard, gave a shocked look, nearly tripping over his own feet "I THOUGHT YOU FORGOT ABOUT THAT!!!"

Gabe just gave a devilish smirk as he nodded no. "Now why would I ever forget about that Jeannie haha."

The duo rounded the street and continued down another road through the mass of people. Even with the "expedition" to reclaim Wall Maria barely a year ago, the population displacement caused by the breach of the first wall never really settled, especially in Trost.

Its already been a year and Trost still looks like refugee camp.

Passing one of the large warehouses that provided accommodations for the displaced peoples, Gabe could see Jean was thinking about the same thing. A few moments passed before he spoke up again.

Jean patted him on the shoulder, "We'll be out of this soon enough. We'll make it into the Military Police, you and me, and we wont have to worry about anything anymore. Our moms wont have to worry about supporting us anymore, hell we'll be making enough to support them too." Jean smirked, " Jean Kirschtein and Gabriel Scipias rubbing elbows with all those snooty nobles. That'll be that day haha."

Gabe smirked back. As much shit as they gave to each other the two boys always had each others backs. They had actually become friends out of literally beating the crap out of each other, some arguement over an omelet if Gabe remembered correctly. After that, it was always them versus the world. It had been their dream for the longest time to join the military together, and now they had done it.

Swerving of into one of the side streets, the mass of people thinned out as the boys entered a residential area. After a couple blocks they slowed and finally stopped in front of a three story building. All the buildings in Trost were mostly built in the same design though some had a little more wear and tear to them, this one was one of the latter variety.

"You want to come in for a minute?" Gabe asked.

Jean winced for a second then nodded no, "I should probably get home, my mom is probably going to want as much time with me before we leave anyway..."

Gabriel nodded, "Fair enough."

"...and your mom scares me."

Again, the shorter of the friends rolled his eyes. "Jean, you know my mom likes you right?"

"She broke that guy's arm last week."

Before Gabriel got another word out.

"And a month ago she cracked 3 of another guy's ribs.e on."

"And there was that time she set that drunk on fire.

"That guy fell into the fireplace, that was his fault!!!"Gabe almost chuckled, remembering the situation.

"Either way...I have a point." Jean sighed, his rant over.

Gabe gave a shrug, " Comes with the job I guess."

Knowing it was pointless to keep hounding Jean with the argument, Gabe held out his hand, "See you tomorrow then?"

The taller boys expression turned to a small smile as he closed the distance and grabbed his lower arm. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

 _xxxxx_

 _(Present)_

The feminine voice sat down next to him on the roof, similarly black hair tied up into a bun.

"I remember when your father took me to the top of Wall Rose…"

Gabe sighed, this was one of his mothers favorite stories. She sneered at her son for a second before continuing.

"Him and his buddies had come to the bar I was working at for a couple days at that point. He wasn't shy but at the same he wasn't the most confident one either, but I could tell he had a thing for me." she smirked.

Evelyn Scipias continued, "So there I was about to end my shift, and as I start to walk out the door I hear, 'Excuse me...I was wondering if you might want to watch the sunset with me.'"

Gabe smirked at his mother.

"Now this was the corniest attempt I had ever heard but...but for some reason it worked. Of course when he suddenly started taking me up the wall, I nearly had a heart attack, and damn near choked out your father but that sunset…."

She paused, "Just took my breath away…"

Gabriel gave a small smile as the two sat there in silence for a moment as the sun continued to set.

"So…"the boy started. "You're not mad at me for enlisting?"

Evelyn sighed. "Every bit of me wants to be mad at you for enlisting. Its rash, dangerous, and idiotic. Every instinct I have as a mother is screaming for me to stop you, but I can't. I can't stop you and I can't be mad at you."

The boy looked at his mother puzzled.

"Gabriel, you are every bit your father's son. You have his good will, his determination, his humility, and as much as I know you'd be safe with me, I also know it would compromise who you are as a person, that's why I have to let you go." Evelyn teared up for a second.

Gabe hugged his mother tightly, "I'll always come back mom."

The elder Scipias smiled, "I know son, and I am so proud to be your mother."

As the two released from their embrace, Evelyn smirked, "You better bring back a girl."

Gabriel deadpanned. "MOM!!!"

The mother just smiled as the two returned to watching the last bits of the sun disappear behind the wall.

Just as the sun disappeared though, Gabriel blinked to see what looked like a valley played out in front of him...with no wall in sight. Confused he blinked again and the wall was back.

 _Must've been nothing._


	2. Chapter 2 - 847: Welcome to the 104th

**Chapter 2 - 847: Welcome to the 104th**

"Jinae?" Jean questioned, turning to Gabe. "Hey Gabe, didn't we know someone from Jinae?"

It was mid morning, the sun beginning its ascent into the sky. Dry heat permeated the carriage train as it entered a fairly arid mountainous region north of Trost. Consisting of about four horse drawn carriages, the train carried around two dozen recruits from Trost and its surrounding villages, its final destination being a military training facility nestled in the mountains further north.

Situated in the third carriage, Jean Kirschtein and Gabriel Scipias sat on the wooden benches. Gabe sat back with his eyes closed, resting up for the impending beatings they were sure to receive when they arrived, while Jean conversed with another recruit; a lanky black haired kid from the village of Jinae.

"Nope" Gabriel didn't bother to open his eyes. "That's Jenna from 3rd grade, remember you were trying to impress her by balancing a pudding cup on your nose. It fell off and spilt into her lap and then she kicked you where the sun don't shine."

"Oh yeah...wait" Jean realized, "HOW DO YOU REMEMBER THAT!!!"

Gabe gave a small smile, eyes still closed, "Cause she kicked me there too...remember."

"Ahhhh...yeah now I remember." Jean responded.

"Where's that?"

Jean looked back from his friend, and Gabe perked up, eyes opening barely in confusion.

"Where's what?" Gabe mumbled out.

The duo looked over to the the lanky boy with neat black hair that Jean had been talking with. The kid almost looked embarrassed as he was wringing his fingers.

"That place...you guys were talking about…" he mumbled

Gabe and Jean turned to look at each other and then back at the kid.

"Your family jewels…" Jean answered.

"Your sausage and meatballs…" Gabe added making a hand gesture downward.

The duo could see the realization click in the guys head. "Oh...ooooooh" he quieted himself, then after a few seconds squinted his brow. "Owww, that must've hurt."

At that, the duo chuckled. "Gabriel Scipias" the shorter of the two held out his hand. "Jean Kirschtein"

"Marco Bodt" the kid replied.

Seems nice enough.

The three spoke for a couple more hours. While Gabe was generally good at reading people; long hours of waiting in a bar for your mom to finish her shift could be boring, so when said mother teaches you to watch bar patrons and use your imagination to make up stories about them to pass time, you end up doing it for long enough that you actually pick their actual stories, to that extent Marco was a completely open book. Gabriel wouldn't say he was ignorant, just not fully realistic. However the lanky teen had a sense of optimism and goodwill that was contagious, and in a way Gabe enjoyed that.

"GET OFF THOSE CARRIAGES MAGGOTS!!!" the voice boomed from outside. The carriages had stopped.

 _And so it begins._

 _xxxxx_

"Hey Moptop!!!" the bald, tall man bellowed out, "What do they call you, maggot?"

The devil incarnate, some might say, formally known as Commandant Keith Shadis drilled into the short blond kid in the rank in front of them. Gabe observed as much as his trailing eyes would allow as he, Jean, and Marco stood at attention.

"Armin Arlert, from Shiganshina, sir!" the youth replied.

 _Shiganshina? Damn, that's rough._

Though he wasn't surprised to see recruits from Shiganshina, Gabriel was still somewhat shocked to see one in person. While there were plenty of those who survived the initial attack on the wall that lived in Trost as refugees, it was still an issue everybody trodded lightly around.

Noticing that Shadis was done with his victim and the rank was being about faced, Gabe straightened back up, eyes forward as the Commandant went down the next line grilling more victims.

Gabe had felt a certain pit in his stomach ever since he got off the carriage. Although some of it was him being anxious, he knew a lot of it was excitement too, this was what he had wanted to do ever since he was old enough to actually want to do something. He knew that the next three years would be arduous, but that didn't matter to him, this was the only path he felt he knew. Besides it ran….

"AND WHAT'S YOUR NAME SHITHEAD!?!?"

Just like that, Shadis was upon him, appearing out of literally no where. As if it were second nature, Gabe shot up with a salute.

"Gabriel Scipias, from Trost District sir!!"

Gabe couldn't see the Commandants face as at attention he was staring straight ahead, but he knew something was off.

No insult, no demeaning gesture or comment?

Suddenly he felt the full force of a fist hit his stomach. The boy was used to getting hit, Jean and himself found themselves in many fights growing up, but this one was sharp, calculated, and burnt like hell. Gabe almost found himself reeling on the dirt but caught himself, staggering and bent over. Having to bite his tongue to stop himself from spitting saliva all over his instructor, Gabriel didn't have to see his friend to know Jean was getting a kick out of this.

Gabe steadied himself back into attention just in time to hear Shadis mutter moving on, "You better improve that salute shithead"

 _xxxxx_

The rest of that introduction would prove interesting. Jean got headbutted by Shadis for being overly confident which Gabe enjoyed, Marco was well, Marco, which the Commandant took full advantage of, then lifted some shaved head kid BY THE HEAD, for saluting with the wrong arm. Then to top it off, Sasha Braus happened.

 _What would possess someone to eat a boiled potato in formation?_

On that note Marco and Gabe, a long with a few other cadets stood on the porch of the mess hall watching the girl affectionately named 'Potato Girl' enduring her punishment below.

"Man, I thought Shadis was going to kill Potato Girl." Connie Springer, the shaved head recruit Gabe had seen earlier, broke the silence.

"I know. One hell of a first day." replied another recruit, this one with scruffy black hair that Gabe came to know as Eren Jaeger. "It's funny. Being told to run until the sunset didn't seem to bother her nearly as much as losing meal privileges for the next five days."

"Yeah...girl must like food." Gabe added as he leaned on the railing.

"I think she said she was from Dauper." Connie added sighing. "If I remember right, that's a small hunting village, up in the mountains."

"Hmmm." Gabe chimed smirking, "Surprised your remembering anything, thought Shadis was going to pop your head like a grape."

The kid from Ragako rubbed his head, "Sure felt like he almost did."

The conversation was sidetracked by Eren who nodded over towards the direction of the camps camps entrance, "Hey, what's that?"

Another recruit, Gabriel thought her name was Mina, answered, "They're dropouts."

Everybody winced as she continued, "They prefer to work in the fields."

It was the blond, feeble recruit that Gabe remembered from earlier, Armin, who replied, "But it's only the first day…"

"That's the way it is." Eren replied, "If you can't handle the pressure, you gotta leave.

I just can't believe anyone would rather pull plants than fight." the boy crossed his arms.

"Yeah" Gabe added turning around, "Guess that's just the way it is."

"Right" the scruffy haired boy replied.

"I know about some of us," Marco broke the silence, "...but you never mentioned where you're were from Eren."

Eren patted Armin on the shoulder, "The same as Armin, from Shiganshina."

 _Wow_

 _xxxxx_

Within the span of about an hour, Eren Jaeger became a sort of quasi celebrity within the mess hall. A large group of people, including Marco and Connie grouped around him as he ate grilling him with questions about the titan attack.

Meanwhile, Gabriel sat with Jean across the aisle. Gabe was still casually listening to the commotion across the way but was more concentrated on eating the liquid substance they passed off as stew here.

 _Looks like watered down dirt._

His inner monologue was interrupted when he heard the familiar voice across from him speak up. "Hey are you crazy or something?" Jean spoke out.

 _Here we go…_

"Not that it's my business…"

 _Because it's not smart one…_

"...but signing up for reconnaissance is like a death sentence." Jean finished, garnering the rooms attention.

Eren grimaced, looking at Jean, "I guess we'll see." the scruffy haired kid frowned, "Or at least I will. You seem content hiding in the Interior with MP's."

Gabe's eyebrow rose as he turned to face Eren as well, "Not saying I agree with Jean here." the shorter of the duo started, getting a quick glance if recognition from the taller, "but what exactly about being a part of the Military Police do you find so distasteful?"

The question obviously set the Shiganshina boy off as he stood up, "They're cowards living in the interior. What's the point of all this training if you're just going to hide in the walls all your life? "

Gabe sighed, "Because those people have families, people who care about them, people who depend on them. Yes, the titans are a huge threat, but until that's dealt with, people still have deal with living here."

Jean chimed in, standing up, "Look, I'm just speaking honestly here kid. I think it's better than being some loud mouth, bragger tough guy wannabe, pretending he's not as piss scared as the rest of us."

Eren clenched his fists, "Are you guys trying to pick a fight?"

"Stop it you guys." Marco said, ever the peaceful one tried to defuse the argument.

The tension was at a standstill until the bell rung from outside the mess hall. At that Jean stuck his hand out to Eren, "Hey, we apologize. Sorry for calling you names and dismissing your choice of career." the tension still thick as Jean held his hand there. "Put it there kid, what do you say?"

Eren stood there for a second and then finally, disgruntled, smacked Jean's hand out of the way.

"Right. Yeah I'm sorry as well."

As the scene deconflicted, Gabe went back to his food but as Eren walked away, the shorter of the duo heard Eren mumble.

"You don't know what their like…"

Gabe sighed, frowning.

 _Yeah...of course I dont_


End file.
